


Past is Prologue

by chasingforeverandaday



Series: many, many friends [1]
Category: Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Banter, F/M, Female Friendship, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Humor, I speak from personal experience, Innuendo, Male-Female Friendship, Sibling Love, Siblings, Swearing, and not-so meet cutes, because Oscar has a dirty mind, do I need to tag that?, hospitals suck, meet cutes, sorry guys it just kinda happened, which only encourages Lenore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-19 04:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9417737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasingforeverandaday/pseuds/chasingforeverandaday
Summary: Sometimes that person you crash into on the subway (or hit on at the bar) becomes an irreplaceable part of your life.Or, how the eccentric group of friends orbiting the Poe siblings came to be.





	1. Edgar & Lenore

**Author's Note:**

> Originally Secrets and Snowballs was going to be a standalone. BUT, I still had all the backstory and headcanon I came up with while writing it. So, this was born while I was bored at work today.
> 
> These will all be relatively short, pretty dialogue-heavy bits. They also probably won't be totally in chronological order, more of just the order I write them. If there are any questions regarding the order of the story, just let me know, but I hope they should be standalone enough that they make sense individually. 
> 
> Obviously, Edgar and Lenore know each other (they're siblings), and they both know Annabel. But beyond that, we're starting from the bottom.

Someone was knocking at his apartment door… after midnight. Not that he had many visitors during the day. Or in general. Or ever.

“What the- Who?”

“Hello dear brother.” Of course, it was her.

“Lenore,” Edgar groaned. “How did you get up here? There’s a doorman and he’s very good at his job, so why on earth would he let you up here without buzzing me?”

“Feminine wiles, grouchy pants, feminine wiles. Anyways, would my dearest, darlingest brother let me in? I just got off, like, a five hour flight and these bags can’t carry themselves.”

“No, why are you here? In my apartment? In New York? When you live in Los Angeles?”

“I can’t want to come see my dear, sweet brother Edgar?”

“You have called me ‘dear’ more in the past three minutes than you have in our entire lives. What’s going on?”

“If you must know, Guy has decided that we must marry at once or never at all.”

“And you’re here because…?” Lenore logic would never make sense.

“I’m not ready for that kind of commitment! We’ve only been dating for like a year. I don’t want to be tied down now. So I broke it off, I mean, it was def time anyways.”

“Still not seeing why you’re here, in my apartment, in New York, at one AM.”

“Well, apparently after I said no, Guy went into a total tizzy and insisted I was wrong and that he could woo me into agreeing. Like dude, no means no! So I put in for a transfer to the New York office, because hello! You’re here, so I’m not totally starting from zero… And, as I’m sure you’re _well aware_ , Annabel’s here too, and don’t give me that look Edgar, she’s been my best friend for, like, ever. Your crush on her is not going to affect my friendship.”

“Then why aren’t you crashing on Annabel’s couch?”

“Edgar, you’ve been complaining about the lack of roommate for like, a month. You ranted about it over Skype to me just last week!” Oh, right, he did tell her that. A lot. “So voila, problem solved, I’m your new roommate!” She finished her statement with an exaggerated hand motion, nearly whacking him in the face.

She could not be serious. “You actually want to go _back_ to living with each other? Are you feeling okay? Do you have a fever or food poisoning? You always act off when you have food poisoning.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to? I mean, I’m already used to all of your weirdness.”

“Do you remember high school?” They’d had to share a bathroom, enough said.

“Oh please, it won’t be that bad. We’ve grown up.”

“Famous last words.”

“Shut up Edgar and show me to my room. Oh, and there’s still more of my stuff downstairs, I couldn’t carry it all. Be a dear and help me?”

“I live on the sixth floor.”

“Nope. Now we live on the sixth floor. Your point is?”

He dragged his hands down his face. “Lenore, this is going to be disaster.”

“Nope. It’s going to be brilliant.” With that, she flounced down the hallway, off towards her new room. Well, where she assumed  her room was.

Turns out, they may both have been at least a _little_ right.


	2. Annabel & Lenore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here we have the reunion of Annabel and Lenore! Cue squealing and girl talk...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are coming out way quicker than I was expecting! I've already got the next chapter mostly ready, just need to check it a few more times.
> 
> Okay, so after this, the chapters are all going to be first meetings. But I felt like Lenore, Edgar, and Annabel form the basis of this universe, as they have ties going back to childhood, so seeing some of those relationships was important before delving into everyone else. Plus, Lenore's arrival in NYC is really what sets the ball rolling on everything that happens afterwards, considering she is the one to bring Edgar more out of his shell and into some semblance of a social life. 
> 
> If anyone was wondering, these chapters happen approximately 6-7 years before Secrets and Snowballs, and I'm imagining pretty much everyone as early twenties, so like a few years out of college and into their "grown-up" jobs. Which is still writing for a lot of them.
> 
> Also, if you're ever confused as to which POV each chapter is, it is always going to be the first character in the title. You will probably find a lot of Lenore POV coming soon.
> 
> As always, if you have any questions, drop me a comment below and I'll answer to the best of my ability!

Annabel had just stepped out of her building’s laundry room when she heard a squeal and was knocked over by a blur. “Annabel! Oh my god it’s been so long!” Pulling back, she spit some dark curls out of her mouth and saw the beaming face of her best friend.

Pulling her back in for another hug, she had to hold in a happy sob. Life was always more fun when Lenore Poe was in it. “Lenore! My goodness! What are you doing here? It’s so good to see you!” Lenore sighed and seemed to gather her thoughts for a moment, trying to decide where in her story she should start.

“Well, Guy wanted to get way too serious like way too fast, so I was like ‘Later dude,’ got a transfer to the New York office at the magazine, and hopped a plane here. Showed up last night, or this morning, whatever, it was really dark, and now I’m Edgar’s new roommate. After all, that poor boy just couldn’t handle life without me. I mean, I don’t think he’s come out of that apartment in weeks. Did you know he’s been getting his groceries delivered? Okay, at least that means he’s eating, but still!”

“Oh, well, would you like to come over for tea? I’m sure we have lots to catch up on.” The last time they had talked (was it only a week ago?) Lenore had seemed relatively content in her life on the West Coast, though perhaps that had only been for show.

Now though, now Annabel could see real sparkles in her best friend’s eyes, and not just through a patchy webcam. “Of course! I don’t start at work until next week, I guess transfers get a week to settle in or something, but hey, no way in hell am I going to complain about having a whole week to explore New York City.”

Sheepishly, she had to admit, “I’ve been here for a few years now, and I still don’t know the city very well.”

Lenore gave Annabel one of her softer grins, the kind only Annabel and Edgar ever really got to see. The kind that meant she was feeling nostalgic, thinking about growing up in suburban Maryland.  “Babe, we’ve got this! Anna Banana and Lady Lenore against the world remember?” At the mention of their childhood alter egos, Annabel grinned back at her.

Feeling impish, she cocked her head and asked teasingly, “Hm, shall we bring the Raven Man with us too? I wouldn’t want him to feel left out. And it would be just like when we were children!” Also, it would be good to have someone else to worry over Edgar’s antisocial tendencies with. Lenore generally tended to be more aggressive in her caring for Edgar, while Annabel was far better at quietly fretting and making sure he did actually eat the food delivered to his apartment. She wasn’t quite sure how Lenore’s exuberance would affect Edgar, but at least in high school, Lenore had been the best at drawing him out of his self-imposed shell.

“Yes, we can bring my brother, BUT, we do need to have girl time. I really do not need him to hear about boy troubles. I think that would actually make him bang his head against a wall.” Linking their arms, Lenore started marching Annabel towards the stairs. “You’re up on the fourth floor, right?”


	3. Lenore (and Annabel!) & Eddie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls have a great day in NYC, Annabel meets a potential new beau, and then it's serious discussion time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, the first Lenore POV chapter! This one is about twice as long as either of the others so far, which I found interesting, because I thought the introduction of Eddie was going to be really hard; although to be fair, there's less of him in here than anyone might be expecting.
> 
> As always, leave a comment below if you have any questions!

Wandering around New York City with her best friend, acting like the tourists they technically weren’t, was some of the most fun Lenore Poe had had in awhile. The tense nature of her recent relationship with Guy had turned her into a walking stress ball, so the chance to goof off and just enjoy herself was amazing. She could go back to worrying about Edgar (whom she loved dearly) and his habit of existing solely in the dark recesses of that depressing apartment tomorrow. Tonight, she was going to pretend that she was still the Lenore of senior year, who knew how to have fun without worrying about the future.

After running around the city all day, her growling stomach convinced Lenore to find somewhere to grab some dinner. A quick Google revealed a pretty highly rated Greek place a block away, so off they went.

While they were waiting for their table by chatting at the bar, the bartender came over and pushed another Cosmopolitan to Annabel, who turned as pink as her new martini and quietly tried to convince the bartender that he was mistaken, she hadn’t ordered anything besides the drink currently in her hand.

“Actually, I ordered it.” Whipping their heads around, both girls saw a grinning well-dressed man behind them, keeping his gaze firmly on Annabel’s blushing face. He reached out a hand, and continued, “Hi, Eddie Dantes. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, hello. I’m Annabel, and this is Lenore.” Who really may as well have not existed for all of the attention Eddie was paying her. Being invisible was convenient when trying to judge a potential suitor for her best friend however.

“So Annabel, what is it that you do?”

Annabel’s face lit up, she loved talking about work. “Oh, I’m working as a children’s librarian while I also take classes for my masters in Library and Information Science from Queens. And yourself?”   
“I’m a banker, with Chase. I’ve been in the domestic financial accounting segment for a few years, but I’m hoping for a promotion or to switch to the department handling international accounts…” And that was where Lenore’s attention was lost. Her mind wandered, taking a closer look at Eddie’s physical appearance, which did somewhat make up for the incredibly dry topic he was rambling on about now. He was conventionally attractive sure, but he looked a bit too much like Guy for Lenore to ever consider being interested in him. Annabel, on the other hand, was looking at him like he was the second coming of JK Rowling (the highest praise possible).

She tuned back in for a second, but ugh, Eddie was still talking about banking. Guy had been a banker, back in LA, which was probably why she was having issues focusing on the discussion right now. The two of them had never truly reached an equilibrium regarding work and money, as an investment banker Guy had been making way more money than her, a lowly worker bee at a fashion magazine. Guy had always wanted to pay for everything, and had managed to come off as completely patronizing at least half the time. Hell, that had been part of his proposal! “Financial security” her ass, he had just wanted her to stop arguing with him about paying for herself. A buzz in her hand brought her back to the real world, away from memories of fights revolving around money.

Grabbing her best friend, she made for the hostess stand. “Anna Banana, looks like our table’s ready. Catch you later Eddie!”

“Wait, Annabel! Here,” he grabbed a business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Call me sometime? I’d love to get dinner together.”

Annabel was quite possibly the most red Lenore had ever seen her. And that included when she and Edgar had had to share a bathroom on a summer trip. “Oh, thank you.”

Once they were seated and had ordered, Lenore raised an eyebrow. “Sooooo, do you think you’ll be calling Eddie?”

“Maybe? He seemed quite nice, and I can appreciate his taste in drinks at least. This Cosmo is very good.”

“Not to make this awkward, but um… what about Edgar? I mean, you hoped that the two of you would…” Unable to come up with a way to finish that sentence without causing a terrible mental image to form (Edgar was her _brother_ , there were certain things Lenore never wanted to think about, ever), she settled for a vague hand motion.

Stunned, Annabel slowly put down that damn pink martini and physically seemed to draw in on herself. When she spoke, it was with the calmest voice she could manage, though there was still a tremor. “Lenore, I love your brother. He’s been one of my dearest friends for so many years. However, I don’t know if he’ll ever be ready to be in a real relationship. He’s just not in a good place right now, if he ever truly has been. I adore our friendship, he’s always going to be one of the people closest to me. But I… I want to have someone to go home to at the end of the night and talk about all of the stupid little things that happened during my day. I want to have someone who will love me for who I am; quiet, unassuming little me.”

“And you don’t think Edgar can be that person for you.”

“No, I don’t think he can Lenore. I mean, I want him to, you know I want him to. But he has this idea of me in his head that’s perfect. This girl who’s kind and beautiful and never does anything wrong. That’s what he’s in love with, the girl he puts first, not me, the girl who’s been head over heels for him since he gave me a rock for my fifth birthday.”

“Oh Annabel…”

“God, I shouldn’t putting you in the middle of this, he’s your brother.”

“Yes, he is my brother. But you’re my best friend. We pinky swore, remember?” Lenore reached across the table and linked their right pinky fingers tightly, squeezing as she continued, “No stupid boys were going to come between us, and I would definitely consider my brother a stupid boy. I love you, no matter if you’re dating my brother or planning on being the first woman on Mars or it turns out you’re an infamous criminal, using me for… nefarious reasons I can’t come up with right now.” That earned her a watery giggle, which was better than nothing right now. “That metaphor may have gotten away from me a bit.”

“Oh, you think so?”

“Quiet you. Anyways, you get my point. I love you, and that fact has nothing to do with my brother. So if you feel the need to vent about him or anything, I’m here and I won’t breathe a word to him. Just know, I am Switzerland, so he’s going to get the same treatment, even if we don’t actually have this same conversation.”

“Thank you Lenore. I’m glad that I have you.”

“Me too Anna Banana. Me too.” Lenore wiped a tear that had been threatening to fall from the corner of her eye. She looked down at the plates in front of them, which had been dropped off at some point during their emotional conversation. Pasting a cheerful smile on her face, she continued, “Now, eat the food! I want to know what lasagna with nutmeg tastes like!”

So much for having a fun girls’ night out in New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so this ended up way more angsty than I was planning on it being, sorry? Honestly, I felt like the girls needed to discuss the Annapoe elephant in the room sooner than later, and pairing that topic with the introduction of Eddie seemed appropriate. 
> 
> And yes, pistitso is Greek lasagna, which does in fact have nutmeg in it (I believe my uncle's recipe also might have cinnamon?), and it is delicious.


	4. Lenore & Oscar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing the scandalous, fabulous Oscar Wilde (of course, that depends on your definition of scandal)!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place nine months after meeting Eddie; he and Annabel have been dating for about six months, as she insisted on getting to know each other as friends before crossing into romantic relationship territory. Also, the girls have convinced Edgar to join a weekly trivia night at their favorite bar, because he's a fount of useless knowledge who loves to be right. May as well use that to their advantage and score some free drinks.
> 
> As always, all comments are welcome and let me know if you have any questions!

As had become a Wednesday night routine in the past few months, Lenore had hopped the early subway from work and made it to “their” bar for trivia. With her brother and Annabel. And Eddie. As a team, they were actually pretty good, so long as Edgar and Eddie kept their sniping at each other behind Annabel’s head. There were times when Lenore really wondered just how oblivious her darling ginger truly was, but she knew that Annabel always saw the best in everyone. Of course, sometimes she saw more than Lenore would have assumed. 

Annabel had been staring at Eddie, who was getting the next round of drinks during the break, when her brow furrowed. She turned to her best friend and asked quietly, “Lenore, do you see that man talking to Eddie?” 

Shifting her focus away from the cocktail-sword fencing match she was winning (read: kicking Edgar’s ass), Lenore glanced up to the bar. Did Anna mean the one who was  _ totally _ hitting on Eddie? “Yup, I seriously should go ask him where he got those pants. Not that many men can pull off red leather, but dayum, he totally is.” Lenore took another moment to admire his assets before continuing. “Why?”

“Eddie looks a bit uncomfortable. Do you think you could go… help him?” Taking a closer look, Banker Boy did actually seem a bit off, which was weird.

Filled with a slightly unholy sense of glee, Lenore grinned and teased, “Annabel, are you asking me to go save your boyfriend? From the very pretty man in the very nice leather pants?”

“Well…” 

“I’m taking that as a yes. And of course Anna Banana, just tell Eddie he owes me one.” With that she slid out of her seat, checked her hair, and strode up to the bar, cutting between Eddie and his new acquaintance. “Eddie, is Annabel’s drink ready yet? I’m pretty sure she’s going to steal Edgar’s soon, and you know what she’s like when she drinks absinthe.” She had to smirk at him, because while the table dancing was hilarious, it wasn’t really something Eddie probably wanted his girlfriend to do in a public setting (or, for that matter, in front of Edgar). 

“Thank you Lenore, for that lovely mental image.” Facing the other man, Eddie put on a tight smile (an expression Lenore had never actually seen on him before) and said, “Well then, it seems I’m being summoned, so I’ll bid you adieu. It has been… interesting.” Parting shot fired, he swirled around, conveniently forgetting Edgar’s new glass on the bar.

Rolling her eyes, Lenore grabbed her brother’s drink and was about to follow Eddie back to their table, but then turned around when she heard the man at the bar let out a disgruntled snort. “Question: were you actually interested in Eddie or just hitting on him because that man is too damn pretty not to at least try? Because let me tell you, the looks far outweigh the man’s personality. I mean, he might be dating my best friend, but in my opinion he’s drier than a Triscuit.”

Leather Pants smirked and tilted his head. “He really is far too handsome, isn’t he?”

“Like a freaking Disney prince.” But like, the one from Sleeping Beauty or something. Not one with any actual character traits. Just a very pretty part of the scenery.

“Eh, I’d say he’s more of a Hans. You know, the smarmy type who doesn’t call you after you’ve spent a night getting to know each other. And then completely ignores your existence when you try to chat with them again at a bar.”

So there was obviously some history there. “You guys have met before.”

“One could say that.” Leather Pants twirled one of the curls hanging next to his face. “One could  _ definitely _ say that.” 

“Intriguing.” Eying her group across the room, she noticed that currently Edgar wore the scowl which made his mouth disappear under that ridiculous mustache. It would probably be best if she went back before he did anything illegal. “Not that this isn’t a simply scintillating conversation, but I must be off before my brother murders Mr. Perfect Hair. Before I go though, tell me: who’d you have to kill for those pants? I totes need a pair.”

“Very subtle subject change there. And a friend made them for me. They required quite a few very  _ personal _ fittings.” Cue wiggling of well-groomed eyebrows. 

“Sounds scandalous. Any chance I could throw my name in and maybe get a pair? I can give you my number if you want. Then your  _ friend _ can contact me directly.”

“Oh, I like you. Here,” he made grabby hands at her phone, which she unlocked and handed to him. “And it’s Oscar dear, Oscar Wilde.”

“Lenore Poe. And likewise.”

“Darling, I think this shall be the start of a beautiful friendship.” Handing back her phone, Oscar winked and glided off to the door. Lenore smirked to herself and headed back to the table as the announcer got ready to start the next round of trivia.


	5. Mary & Edgar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A calm Dr. Mary Shelley and a panicking Edgar Allan Poe, what a pair they make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will say, this was probably both the easiest and hardest chapter to write. The subject matter itself is something I can very easily connect with, but my bread and butter is snarky humor, not somber. I honestly kept going back and forth on this one, I seriously could not make up my mind on if I liked it or not. However, I'm biting the bullet and posting it, no more second guessing myself.
> 
> I am not a doctor, nor will I ever be one. All medical conditions are ones I know of or have experience with in real life, but Google is a wonderful thing when it comes to clarifying and using the correct terminology.

Walking out of the elevator, Dr. Shelley readjusted her jacket before opening to door to this ward’s waiting room. Checking in with the receptionist, she learned Lenore Poe (26, female, previously undiagnosed aortic stenosis, scheduled for valve replacement in Operating Room 3 in two hours) had only an extremely frazzled brother sitting out here. According to Vicki, he’d been driving the staff near insane with his pacing since the sister had been admitted. Currently though, he was staring blankly at the wall, looking lost and alone while holding onto his phone for dear life.

Mary was about to go over to him when his expression shifted to one of determination, and he quickly unlocked the phone, pressed a few buttons, and held it to his ear. His face fell immediately.

“Annabel? It’s Edgar. Annabel, where are you? I’ve tried calling you and you won’t pick up. Why won’t you pick up? Annabel, I need you. Please, just get here. Please.” His voice broke on his last plea, a sob wrestling it’s way out of his throat. He let the phone drop before burying his head in his hands.

Deciding the poor man didn’t need to wait any longer for news, Mary strode over and placed her hand on his shoulder. When he startled and turned to look at her, she put on her kindest smile and asked, “I assume you’re the family of Lenore Poe?”

“Yes, I’m her brother, Edgar Allan Poe. Um, I mean, just Edgar. Just call me Edgar. Is she? I mean, Lenore? Is she…?” He trailed off, unable or unwilling to complete his question.

“Let me introduce myself, I’m Dr. Mary Shelley. I’m the one who will be operating on your sister tonight.” He reached a hand over, seemingly on autopilot. Once she touched him however, he reeled backwards, finally fully processing her words.

“Wait, tonight? You need to operate tonight? What’s going on?”

“Your sister has a condition called aortic stenosis. It occurs when the aortic valve narrows, causing the heart to work harder.” Here she pulled out her notepad, drawing a rough sketch of the concerned area. “When aortic stenosis becomes severe, it causes the heart to pump too hard, exhausting the cardiac muscles. Sometimes, the valve muscles do not manage to completely close, meaning there is a backflow of blood in that particular chamber of the heart. In Lenore’s case, it appears to be a congenital condition, not one caused by any particular lifestyle decisions. Are you following me Edgar?” Mary glanced back up at his face.

At his tense nod, she continued. “In order to fix this, we need to go in and replace her valve.”

“What? I’m sorry, you need to do what?”

She raised a hand to halt his stuttering.“I am aware it sounds drastic, and that’s because this is unfortunately a serious condition. Luckily, technology has made it so we can do this procedure as non-invasively as possible. I’ll be going in through her leg and then performing the entire procedure via camera.” Noticing his panicked expression, she added, “I promise, I am an expert at this.”

Eyes wide, his breaths grew shallow as his words ran together until she could barely make out what he meant. “She just, she just collapsed. We were just watching, God I don’t even remember what we were watching, and she just looked over at me and said she felt off. I told she she probably had a bad batch of ribs again, so she hit me and got up to go grab the thermometer, said she thought it might be a fever or something. Then she just collapsed in the hallway. She wouldn’t wake up and I called an ambulance, and I was just sitting there, talking to her, making sure she knew I was there, and, and…”

“Deep breaths, Edgar. Deep breaths.” She walked him over to a table and sat him down, crouching next to him. “I need you to hold your breath with me, okay? And 1, 2, 3. Okay, now let it out. Now again.” Mary walked him through the breathing exercises a few more times until she was sure he wasn’t going to keep hyperventilating. “Okay? You with me again?”

“She has to be okay. She’s Lenore, she has to be okay. Nothing can take down Lenore Poe.” He may have calmed his breathing, but those were definitely tears running down Edgar’s face.

“Edgar, I need you to look at me now, can you do that?” Seeing him turn his face upwards, though still covering part of it with his hands, Mary continued, “Now, I am aware that this is terrifying. But I promise, I am very, very good at what I do, and I will do everything I can to make sure that your sister will make it out of my OR, make a full recovery, and that the two of you can go back and finish watching whatever it was you were watching earlier tonight, okay?”

Muffled through his hands, she barely heard him say, “ _F_ _irefly_ . We were re-watching _Firefly_. Because neither of us wanted to go out tonight, and I have the whole series on DVD.”

Mary quirked a smile and quoted, “I can kill you with my brain.”

“Personally I’d rather you save Lenore with it, but that’s good to know,” he replied dryly.

Sensing that was the closest she was going to get to a full reponse, she stood up and asked her last question before heading to prep. “Will anyone else be joining you? Since this procedure will take quite awhile, we’re going to move you to a private waiting room upstairs near cardiology.”

Edgar looked rather sad again. “Yes, Annabel Lee. Damn it. I’ve called half a dozen times and she hasn’t picked up. I need her. She needs to be here. I can’t, I can’t- we need her here.”

“Perhaps-”

“No, no, no. My sister is in the hospital. Annabel is one of our best friends. She’s, well, she’s practically family. She’d want to be here. And I don’t know, I don’t know how to do this. I need Annabel. I need help.”

“Edgar. I need you to focus, here and now, with me. I don’t know why your friend hasn’t responded. I can’t even begin to guess. But, I do know from being a doctor here, that no one can do this alone. This waiting, this worrying? It is always better to have someone here with you. Have you considered calling anyone else? Your parents, or…?”

“HG, he’s Lenore’s… person. He’s already on his way, I mean, it’s Lenore, he’d teleport here if he had the option. Our parents are gone, have been for years. God, I don’t know who else to call.” Pulling his phone back up, he began to scroll through what Mary presumed was his contacts list. He began to mumble to himself, “Oscar. I’ll call Oscar. Mary Anne? No, she lives with Oscar, he’ll bring her anyway, there’s no need for a second call. Fyodor, Ernest, Charlotte…”

Glad that he would at least have someone with him, Mary tapped his hand, waited for him to look back to her, and said, “I will see you again once the operation is over. I’ll send Karen, one of my nurses, out in a few minutes to give you a more detailed explanation of everything that will be occurring. I’ll also make sure she comes to your room every hour or so with updates on our progress. I will take care of Lenore, I promise.” With that, she nodded at him and left, already mentally preparing herself for the long task ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you guys know, there may end up being an extension on this, either as a standalone or a continuation in a later chapter.


	6. Mary Anne & Oscar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College flashback! Feat. Mary Anne it's-too-early-to-be-dealing-with-this-shit Evans and Oscar it's-my-party-I-can-perve-if-I-want-to Wilde and a campus gym. Because reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeyyyyy. This was a much longer time between updates (sorry, school). Although, I started about three different chapters before finally committing to this one, so the next update should be sooner(ish). And there's going to be a very Wellenore oneshot coming out in the next few days. Hopefully. (writing makeouts is hard okay?) 
> 
> Anyways, as always, please leave any questions/comments below. I love hearing what you guys think.

Startled awake by the obnoxious ringing of her alarm, Mary Anne Evans’ arm shot out of her blankets and began to smack along her nightstand, searching for the stupid clock. Once found, it was thrown across the room and into the opposite wall, upon which the blaring abruptly cut off. Despite its unfortunate demise, the clock had done its job and successfully woken her up. Bleary eyed, she sat up and yawned, stretching her arms out wide before falling back into her pillow. 

God, it was far too early for things. Before the sun was actually out early. Why did she need to get up so early again? 

Her eyes found the gym bag laying in front of her closet. Right, it was Tuesday, so gym. And then showering, and then classes, and then field hockey. She would need to squeeze in some time for food too, probably between Creative Writing and Journalism & Ethics. Rubbing between her eyebrows, she finally untangled her legs from the covers and padded towards the door, intending on heading for the bathroom in the dorm hallway. Upon reaching the door empty handed, she smacked her forehead, remembering she needed her keys to get back in, turning around to stumble back to her desk in the predawn darkness of the room. 

A major upside of being an RA this year was having her own room, especially since both of her previous roommates had wanted to kill her for the early schedule she meticulously kept. Being in charge of hormonal freshman girls may not always be her favorite thing in the world, but she was pretty good at giving out advice… and condoms when necessary. Although in her opinion, the less she knew about that aspect of her charges’ lives, the better.

Shaking herself out of the introspective funk, Mary Anne grabbed her keys and left the dorm room, mentally planning out her day as she went.

* * *

 

Once out of the women’s locker room, Mary Anne started up her workout playlist and began stretching out. She let her mind drift, the music in her earbuds grounding her. Heading over to the track, she found her rhythm in the beat of footsteps pounding into the floor, relentless in their constancy. Lost in the blessed quiet of her aimless thoughts, she was done with her laps quickly and moved to stretch again before the next stage of her circuit. 

Mary Anne was just beginning her set of squats when she heard the pretty boy working out next to her start grumbling to himself. Rolling her eyes, she upped the volume and continued, though his running commentary soon became impossible to tune out completely.

“Please turn around, there’s a good boy.”

“God I love squats.”

“Damn, the ass on the man. The things I could do...”

The loss of focus (and patience) made her snap, whipping her head around to glare at him. “My god, do you ever shut up?”

Twisting to throw her a scathing glance, he replied, “Well that was rude!” 

“Seriously, you’re distracting me!” 

“Oh please, buck up buttercup. If I have to listen to your grunting and huffing, you can listen to my appreciation of those lovely specimens over there.” He turned his leering back to the lifters across the room.

“Dude,” here she needed to take a breath to collect her thoughts. Rolling her shoulders back, Mary Anne strode closer to the long-haired idiot and began poking him in the chest to emphasize each word as it came out of her mouth. “The. Gym. Is. For. Working. Out. Not. Ogling. The. Sweaty. Gym. Bros. Capiche?”

Swiping her hand away from him, he leaned in closer before smirking down at her. “Oh darling, haven’t you ever heard of multitasking? Besides, not everyone enjoys the whole getting into shape thing as much as you seem to. The eye candy makes it so much more bearable.”

Disgusted by his priorities, she turned up her nose. “If you’re only here for the visuals, you’d better off using one of the treadmills on  _ slow _ . They might be a bit more your speed.”

He made a face, entirely unamused. “Ha ha ha. You’re so funny I forgot to laugh.”

“That was a great pun, and technically, that definitely counts as a laugh.”

“No, it does not!”

“Does too!”

“Does not!”

“Fucking fight me then!” If she wasn’t going to get to finish her workout in peace, she may as well enjoy it. And she greatly enjoyed punching idiots at the gym, even if generally they were perving on her, not the other dudes.

Pretty boy blanched. “Hell no, you’ll kick my ass!”

“No shit Sherlock.” Putting her fists to her waist, she sneered. It was really hard not to feel incredibly smug when he openly admitted that.

“I can buy you coffee instead?” he offered sheepishly.

Mary Anne blinked and stepped back, not fully comprehending the change in events. “Huh?”

“If I buy you coffee, promise not to hit me.” He seemed more sure of the offer now, probably because she no longer held quite as much aggression in her frame. 

“Planning on paying your debts with caffeine?”

“Well, obviously. What self-respecting college student would say no to free coffee?”

She raised an eyebrow. “The kind who like tea.” 

Clutching a hand over his heart, he playfully whimpered. “No, blasphemy! I refuse to associate with you!” Apparently her new friend was more than a tad dramatic.

“Dude, I never said  _ I _ wanted tea.” Snorting at the absurdity, she continued, “Please, I practically mainline espresso during finals. Besides, nothing says coffee like 6:00 in the morning.”

“Good. I’d hate to have to never speak to you again. You’ve made this morning so much more entertaining than usual, even if you did cut into my ogling time.”

“You mean your workout?”

“Tomato, tomahto. Practically the same thing in this case. As I said, I’m a  _ very _ good multitasker.” 

“Puh-lease. Most of those guys are football players, very little going on up here,” she said, tapping her temple.

“Yes dear, but muscles. Lots and lots of muscles. And sweat. And-”

Childishly sticking her fingers in her ears, Mary Anne sing-songed, “La la la la la. I can’t hear you.” Turning her back to him, she strode to the women’s locker room door, pausing with her hand on the knob. “Meet me out here. If you ditch me, I will hunt you down and you’ll be paying for a lot more than my coffee.”

“Aye aye ma’am!” He said, jauntily saluting her.

Not in the mood for his sarcasm, she flipped him off before slamming the door open. Hopefully she wouldn’t kill him before the caffeine kicked in. Trying to talk her way out of a murder charge probably was not the best way to start off the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay:  
> a) Mary Anne would definitely say "FIGHT ME!"; she just would, no one can convince me otherwise  
> b) she's a journalism major (and a junior in college) and that's a WHOLE other story that ties into the whole George Eliot thing (I have no idea if that story is ever going to get written, but yeah)  
> c) she and Oscar totally make up during coffee and wind up becoming best friends who room together senior year and then when they move to New York after school is over  
> d) I don't workout, like ever, so if anyone has any issues with how that part of the scene played out, let me know; I'm always up for learning about shit I have no expertise in


End file.
